Collapsible tube dispenser, including a pair of adjacent rollers



H. L. lVlNS Oct. 28, 19-52 COLLAPSIBLE TUBE DISPENSER, INCLUDING A PAIR OF ADJACENT ROLLERS Filed Aug. 4, 1950 INVENTOR. HEQBEQT LIV/us ATTOQ/UEY Patented Oct. 28, 1 952 UNITED STATES PATENT" OFFICE.

COLLAPSIBLE TUBE DISPENSER, INCLUDQ. ING. A PAIR OF ADJACENT ROLLERS Herbert. L. Ivins, Cleveland, Ohio Application August 4, 1950, Serial No. 177,646

7 Claims. (Cl. 222-102).

Thisv invention relates in general to. dispensin apparatus andmore particularly to improvements in devices for dispensing the contents of: collapsible tubes.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide a simple and efiicient dispensing mechanism for squeezing a collapsible tube containing paste, or the like, and for dispensing the desired quantity of the contents of the tube upon a given manual operation of the mechanism.

Another object is. to provide such a tube supporting and squeezing device that will insure uniform squeezing action throughout the width of the tube.

Another object is to provide means for feeding the tube between rolls to obtain a wringer-like action to insure complete fiatwise collapse of the entire length of the tube in step by step sequence in response to repeated manual operation.

Another object is to provide an improved leverage system, involving the tube squeezing rolls and the manual lever, whereby a minimum manual effort in the operation of the lever exerts the maximum wringer-like squeezing action by the squeezing rolls upon the tube.

A further object is to provide clutch'means whereby pivotal movement of the operating lever in one direction causes norelative movement between the rolls and consequently no collapsing of the tube but merely readies the assembly for the operating lever to be moved in the opposite direction to cause opposite rotation of the squeezing rolls resulting in a wringer-like squeezing and feeding of the tube further in between the rolls. With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention resides in the combination of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter set forth in the following specification and appended claims, certain embodiments thereof being illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of the dispensing device secured toa wall, and in dotted lines, the collapsible tube being engaged by squeezing rollers of the device, and the operating lever in one of an infinite number of positions;

Figure 2 is a viewin front elevation of the same;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary view in section taken through the rollers along line 33 of Figure 1; and

Figure 4 is a side view of a portable support for the dispensing device. I

Referring more. particularly to the drawings, the supporting bracket may comprise a back plate I with end walls 2 secured to the wall 3 by screws 4.

The operatin lever comprises an arm 5 with two upperend walls 6 to carry the two squeezing rollers l and 8; which are. made of. r sili nt compressible material such as rubber, ork or the like. Roller 1 is. carried by a me al. pin 9, or shaft, the ends. of which. lit.- in apertures in lever end walls 6- to rotatably support roller 1 on lever 5,.

Roller 8. is also made of lik material and is also rotatably supported by lever 5., Rollers is carried by a, pin, or shaft, 10- having ends which also extend through end walls 2. of he. support to. form a pivot connection for lever 5.

Surrounding both extended ends of, pin. it are ti htly wrapped coil springs H and H secured to, supporting bracket walls Zby formed hooks l2 and 12'. As viewed in Figures. 2 and 3, the spring on the leftend will be referred to as H and the one on the. right side as H. Thev hooked ends [2. of thesllrings H and H are wound in opposite directions. about pin 10 in such a manneras to prevent rotation of roller 8- in a. clockwise direction and permit counterclockwise rotation, as viewed in Figure 1. In ther Words, the springs H and 1|, which are wound in opposite direc tions, are, restrained against rotation'by hooks l2 and [2. They are wound tightly on pin ill in such a manner to prevent, QlQckWlserotation of roller 8 and to permit. counterclockwise rota tion of roller 8, as viewed in Figur .1- Th prin s act as a. friction clutch for roller 8, being r latively free when rotated'into the spring coils and securely tight when rotation is attempted with the coils. This action m y be termed wrapping, as will be understood by noting one coil spring with one end secured. Placing a 619'" lindrical member, whose Outside diameter is sli htly reater than the normal; in ide. diame er of th co l prin into the coil, it will be app r nt that the pin willslip when rotated into the direction of the wire and will clinch up tightly when rotation is attempted with the direction; of the wire. The two ends of the spring re shown at 26 an 2| in Fi ure 1. The'spring assembly therefore acts as a friction spring clutch for roller 8.

In operation, the lever 5 is lifted upwardly counterclockwise about its pivotal connecting pin l0. During this movement, the friction spring clutches permit rotation of; roller 8 and consequently no relative rotation occurs between rollers 1 and 8. These rollers are closely mounted parah lel to each other so as to be slightly compressed by each other. While he. lever is upwardly raised the two rollers are made ready for wringing action. The flattened closed end 13., pp ite he uncapped open end M of the collapsible tube I5 of paste, is then placed into position to enter between the rollers l and 8. As operating lever 5 is manually forced downwardly clockwise about its pivot pin 1 0, the roller 8 is held fixed by spring clutches II and II as viewed in Figure l, and due to the fact that rollers T and 8 are compressed by each other and the fact that the tube i5 is also therebetween, free roller 1 is rolled clockwise about fixed roller 8, as shown by arrows in Figure 1, as long as this downward movement of lever 5 is continued. The result is a wringer-like action upon tube l5 between the rollers. Inasmuch as the rollers are longer than the width of the tube, there is assured a complete and even collapse of the tube throughout its entire width. Moreover, the wringer-like action not only collapses the tube and dispenses its contents through the uncapped end M, but also feeds the tube progressively in .between the rollers in response to the downward movement of lever 5.

Succeeding upward movement of lever 5 merely bodily moves both rollers without relative rotation and sets up the assembly for the next down movement of the lever for the next step-by-step wringer action of the rollers upon the tube. Thus the length of the downwstroke of the lever determines the extent of tube collapse, its feed into position between the rollers and the amount of paste dispensed.

As a matter of refinement, the lever may be of light sheet metal bent longitudinally into a v with its apex at 5 for strength. Also the lever may have an integral upper curved shield 16 that extends in spaced relation over the top of roller 8. The purpose of this shield is to guide the collapsed portion of the tube downwardly on the front face of lever 5, as shown in Figure 2.

In the event it is desired to use the dispensing device as a portable article, rather than securing it to the wall, as shown in Figure 1, I have shown a light board H with padded face l8 provided with a slot l9 to receive the back wall I of the support which has end walls 2. The step-by-step operation of the tube dispensing apparatus is the same whether carried by screws 4 on the wall or carried by the portable board l'l.

Thus, it will be seen that I have provided a simple and efficient collapsible tube dispensing device whereby a one-handed movement of a simple lever predetermines the extent of wringerlike feed of the tube, the extent of its collapse and the amount of dispensing of the paste, all in step-by-step predeterminable sequence. It will also be seen that I have provided a friction spring clutch assembly whereby relativerotation of the rollers does not occur while thelever 5 is moved upwardly to bodily position the rollers and permits relative and opposite rotation for tube squeezing and advancing purposes when the lever 5 is on its downstroke.

I claim: I

1. In a collapsible tube dispensing device, a support, a manual operating lever pivotally connected to said support, a pair of adjacent rollers carried by said lever, said rollers being adapted to engage said tube therebetween, said rollers being mounted on separate shafts, the pivot for said lever being the shaft of one of said rollers and being free to rotate in one direction of movement of the latter, means for holding said pivot shaft solid with said support during pivotal movement of said lever in the other direction so that its roller is held stationary while the other roller revolves about it, whereby movement of said lever in one direction about its pivot bodily moves both of said rollers without relative rotation and movement of said lever about its pivot in the opposite direction causes opposite relative rotation of said rollers to engage, collapse and advance said tube in between said rollers to dispense the contents of said tube.

2. In a collapsible tube dispensing device, a support, a manual operating lever pivotally connected to said support, a pair of adjacent resilient compressible rollers carried by said lever, said .rollers being adapted to engage said tube therebetween, one of said rollers being mounted to be freely rotatable in either direction and the other roller being provided with means for reventing rotation in one direction and permitting rotation in the other direction, whereby movement of said lever in onedirection about its pivot bodily moves both of said rollers without relative rotation and movement of said lever about its pivot in the opposite direction causes opposite relative rotation of said rollers to engage, collapse and advance said tube in between said rollers to dispense the contents of said tube.

3. In a collapsible tube dispensing device, a support, a manual operating lever pivotally connected to said support, a pair of adjacent rollers carried by said lever, said rollers being adapted to engage said tube therebetween, said rollers being mounted on separate shafts, the pivot for said lever being the shaft of one of said rollers and being free to rotate in one direction of movement of the latter, clutch means for holding said pivot shaft solid with said support during pivotal movement of said lever in the other direction so that its roller is held stationary while the other roller revolves about it, whereby movement of said lever in one direction about its pivot bodily moves both of said rollers without relative rotation and movement of said lever about its pivot in the opposite direction causes opposite relative rotation of said rollers to engage, collapse, and advance said tube in between said rollers to dispense the contents of said tube.

4. In a collapsible tube dispensing device, a support, a manual operating lever pivotally connected to said support, a pair of adjacent rollers carried by said lever, said rollers being adapted to engage said tube therebetween, said rollers being mounted on separate shafts, the pivot for said lever being the shaft of one of said rollers and being free to rotate in one direction of movement of the latter, spring clutch means for holding said pivot shaft solid with said support during pivotal movement of said lever in the other 3 direction so that its roller is held stationary while pivot in the opposite direction causes opposite relative rotation of said rollers to engage, collapse and advance said tube in between said rollers to dispense the contents of said tube.-

5. In a collapsible tube dispensing device, a support, a manual operating lever pivotally connected to said support, a pair of adjacent rollers carried by said lever, said rollers being adapted to engage said tube therebetween, said rollers being mounted on separate shafts, the pivot for said lever being the shaft of one of said rollers and being free to rotate in one direction of movement of the latter, friction clutch means for holding said pivot shaft solid with said support during pivotal movement of said'lever in the other direction so that its roller is held stationary while the other roller revolves about it. whereby movement of said lever in one direction about its pivot bodily moves both of said rollers without relative rotation and movement of said lever about its pivot in the opposite direction causes opposite relative rotation of said rollers to engage, collapse and advance said tube in between said rollers to dispense the contents of said tube.

6. In a collapsible tube dispensing device, a

support, a manual operating lever pivotally connected to said support, a pair of adjacent rollers carried by said lever, said rollers being adapted to engage said tube therebetween, said rollers being mounted on separate shafts, the pivot for said lever being the shaft of one of said rollers and being free to rotate in one direction of move- .1 ment of the latter, friction spring clutch means 7. In a collapsible tube dispensing device, a support, a manual operating lever pivotally connected to said support, a pair of adjacent rollers carried by said lever, said rollers being adapted to engage said tube therebetween, said rollers being mounted on separate shafts, the pivot for said lever being the shaft ofpne of said rollers and being free to rotate in one direction of movement of the latter, the other'roller being supported on a shaft rotatably mounted in said lever, a pair of coil springs, one anchored at each end or said support and oppositely wound about said pivot shaft to form a friction spring clutch for holding said pivot shaft solid with said support during pivotal movement of; said lever in the other direction so that its roller is held stationary while the other roller revolves: about it. whereby movement of said lever about its pivot bodily moves both of said rollers without relative rotation and movement of said lever about its pivot in the opposite direction causes opposite relative rotation of said rollers to engage, collapse and advance said tube in between said rollers to disense the contents of said tube.

HERBERT L. IVINS.

No references cited. 

